


Overgrown

by Marasa



Series: Dynamic Stretching [13]
Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Childhood Abuse, Established Relationship, Hair, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Overcoming Trauma, supportive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-03 01:37:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13330722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marasa/pseuds/Marasa
Summary: Josh tells him stories of flat iron burns.





	Overgrown

Josh tells him stories of flat iron burns.

“I used to be really emo back in high school,” he says. “My hair was super long and I would straighten it every morning and make myself late to school every day.”

The concept is foreign to Tyler. He was never late to school. He never listened to anything other than Christian radio back in high school. He always kept his hair high and tight and never let it grow too long.

None of this was because he wanted to. He had to.

It has only been a year since he’s moved out of his parents’ house and in with Josh and his hair is already much longer than what was once acceptable.

Tyler believes if his mother could see him now, she’d say something about bad influence and not going anywhere in life and living in sin.

“I would burn myself all the time,” Josh says. “My fingers were gnarly. I still have scars from burning myself.”

“On purpose?” Tyler asks. 

Josh doesn’t answer him, just takes out the pair of oversized scissors found under the sink.

Tyler’s hair is long. It curls on the ends above his ears and at the base of his neck. It’s the longest he’s had it since second grade.

“They called me a girl, Josh,” Tyler said two days ago as Josh stroked his hair with calloused fingers. “It was only just above my collar but they called me a girl.”

“Did that bother you?” Josh said.

“It bothered my mom.”

“And then what?”

“That was the first time I ever had my head shaved.”

Josh had kissed his throat that night and said something comforting but Tyler can’t remember what because he was too busy thinking about second grade bullies and bloody noses on the playground.

His hair is not as long as it had been before his mother got to it but it’s still long. It makes his head hot and his forehead and the back of his neck sweaty. The weight of it is more noticeable every day as is the growing wildness of it. 

It's messy. It gets greasy.

Tyler wishes it were longer.

If only the strands were longer and closer to his mouth would he suck split ends and chew keratin.

Josh cuts the air with a flex of the scissors in his hand. “Do you want to do this?”

Tyler doesn’t answer.

“You don’t look like a girl, Tyler.”

Silence.

“You look like you,” Josh says with another metal snip through nothing. “You could never be anyone else.”

Tyler blinks at the bathtub wall, knees pulled up under his chin. His black pants are powdered with dried shampoo caked to the bottom of the dry porcelain. His shirtless torso wipes away the black line of scum behind him.

This length on his head is new. He likes it. He somehow feels guilty.

Josh is holding a pair of scissors in his hand and Tyler doesn’t know what he wants.

It’s quiet as Josh steps into the tub with bare feet. He stands above, looking down at the crumpled boy once terrorized with the screaming blades of hair clippers.

Josh has scars on his hands. Tyler has scars on his scalp.

Slowly, Josh sits down in front of him. Tyler gives a tense look to the scissors still in his hand, his whole being shaky with the terrible memories they conjure.

Blood and tears and a grip tight enough to give him a migraine.

Josh’s fingers are feather light through the overgrown strands. Soft, not tearing, his hand massages knots loose at his crown and follows the unpredictable curve of each strand.

The scissors hit the tile floor outside the dirty bathtub. Tyler is near shaking at the sound but releases a thankful breath at the increased distance.

Tyler smiles. Josh does too.

They sit in the bathtub until their legs ache, but even then, they don’t get out.


End file.
